Rope marker



July 23, 1929. R. s. o. LAWSON ROPE MARKER Filed Sept. 6, 1928 I gvwwtoz filo 3 i $3 L Patented July 23, 1929.

UNITED STATES ROBERT S. 0. LAWSON, F JERSEY CITY, NEW JERSEY.

' ROPE MARKER.

Application filed September 6,1928. Serial No. 304,314.

My invention relates to an identification device for ropes and cables.

The device is adapted for permanent incorporation in the rope structure proper so that information pertaining to the manufacture, quality, strength etc., may be obtained at any time during the life of the rope. I

Hope identification has usually been accomplished by means of several yarns of characteristic colors which are incorporated in the rope. As however such color identification is confusing and uncertain and at its best very meager in its information, certain rope manufacturers have recently undertaken to run into the rope a paper tape on which the record of the rope is printed. Such an identification tape is readily located when the rope end 1s unravelled and the printed record of the rope may be read after the tape has been unfolded and flattened out.

Other manufacturers realizing the convenience of having the information concentrated on a tag or label use a series of information tags attached to a rope yarn proper. Each of the labels contains a complete record for that particular rope and it is only necessary to retrieve one of the labels to obtain the desired in formation.

It is however to be noted that where a tape is used, the tape has to be unfolded sufliciently to disclose the full information and as the tape is only printed on one side a considerable length of tape has to be unfolded and flattened, which is a rather tedious and painstaking operation.

On the other hand an individual label is a rather diflicult member to locate in a rope and particularily so, as only one of the strands of the rope contains the labeled yarn.

Both the tape and the label as used in a rope are surrounded by and in direct contact with the rope fibers, and as the fibers tend to slide one over the other they are apt to damage the labels to such an extent that a deciphering of the printed record may be difficult.

The object of my invention is to use a tape as a protective sheathing for a series of labels printed on both sides. In my preferred construction I use labels which are repeatedly folded upon their longitudinal axes so as to become slender slivers, adapted to be placed inside a twisted paper sheathing which is incorporated in the rope as a separate yarn. By each folding the width of the label sliver will be halfed while its thickness will be doubled. Three foldings will therefore trans form labels inch Wide and .01 inch thick into slivers of approximately inch in width, which slivers are distributed inside the protective sheathing along its axis.

\Vhen the rope end is unravelled the twisted tape sheathing becomes immediately Visible and untwisting of the tape will soon free a label which is unfolded and read.

The dcsiderata of ready locating and condensed in formation are therefore accomplished by my device. It is also evident that the printed labels are fully protected from fiber abrasion by the tape sheathing and both sheathing and labels can be made of a relatively thin paper or fabric which will result in a slender strand that is readily run into the rope.

In the drawing Figure 1 shows the general construction of my preferred rope marker on an enlarged scale.

Figure 2 is a cross section of the rope marker also drawn to an enlarged scale.

Figure 3 shows a short length of a rope strand containing the marker. The end of the rope strand has been parted so as to free the paper tape which is shown sufiiciently untwisted so as to disclose an information label.

Figure 4 is a cross section of the same rope.

Referring to the drawing in which like reference characters designate corresponding parts, 1 represents the rope proper which comprises the yarn sheathing 2 and the yarn core 3.

The core is shown parted at the end so as to free the protective paper sheathing 4 which is made from a paper tape twisted into the semblance of a yarn. Inside the twisted sheathing, the labels 5 are spaced at certain intervals. These labels are repeatedly folded upon themselves to form slivers of minute cross-section.

As the protective sheathing fully encloses the labels no damage will be done to the labels by the surrounding rope fibers and the labels can therefore be printed on both sides and be made of a relatively thin paper or fabric. Such a label when folded, rolled or collapsed into sliver shape will possess a small displacement and no pronounced bulging will occur in the surrounding sheathing.

The rope shown in the drawing comprises a core of parallel yarns which are surrounded by.helically laid covering yarns. The ideal location for the marker in such a rope is close to the axis of the rope where fiber strains are the smallest.

When information relating to the rope is desired, one end of the rope is slightly unravelled and the twisted paper tape is immediately located-whereupon the tape is unt'wisted until a label is freed. The label is now unfolded and read.

In my preferred construction I have shown a twisted paper tape as constituting the protective sheathing inside which a series of folded labels are placed. I do not wish to be understood as limiting myself to the specific details of construction as it is manifest that variations and modifications may be made in the adaptation of the device to various conditions without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention.

I claim 1. An identification device for ropes consistingfof a protective sheathing adapted to be incorporated in the rope structure, a series of labels inside said sheathing and disries of labels printed on both sides and folded into sliver form inside said-sheathing and distributed along the axis of the sheathing.

3. An identifying device for ropes consisting of a protective sheathing adapted to be incorporated as a yarn in the rope structure, a series of labels inside said sheathing and distributed along its axis and provided with rope identifying means.

4. An identifying device for ropes consisting of a protective sheathing twisted into the semblance of a yarn and adapted to be incorporated in the rope structure, a series of labels inside said sheathing and distributed along its axis and provided with rope identifying means.

ROBERT S. O. LAWSON. 

